


Phobias

by LadyLuce



Series: Phobias [1]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Gen, Psychological Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2018-01-04 16:23:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLuce/pseuds/LadyLuce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one shots about the fears which face Dante, Vergil, Lady etc. A mixture of angst, fluff and attempted humour. Occasional DxL and SpardaxEva.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Catoptrophobia

**Author's Note:**

> A set of fics with the prompt being Phobias; it gives me a little more discretion on what I choose to take on. Multi-chaptered fics which spawned from this have been given their own 'Work' pages here on Ao3 and then linked via Series - I have a series! Here each chapter is a separate prompt - often a drabble. I hope you find them interesting :)

 

  
**-Phobias-**

-Lady Luce-

* * *

Catoptrophobia: Fear of Mirrors

* * *

 

Pushing open the door of Devil May Cry Dante rubbed his soaked hair back from his face and shrugged off his weapons and coat. It has started pouring as soon as he had gone out on a call and to make matters worse the 'situation' had been far more dire than previously described. There had been higher demons – intelligent ones – ones which liked to mess with his head instead of simply fighting. And one of them had mentioned Vergil. He had been caught completely off guard by that and only pure instinct had saved him from loosing a limb – or worse.

Running a hand through his still sopping mop of hair he sighed, feeling the warning signs of a head ache making themselves known. He had done his very best to remove the memories of his twin from his mind and shut them all away somewhere safe. It had been a year now since Temin-Ni-Gru and though Dante had managed to forget Vergil once before when he had been left for dead this time it had been so much harder. Before there had been hope that his brother would return one day out of the blue. Now he knew that Vergil was never coming back the fact that his twin would rather jump into hell than return to the human world with him only served to add salt to the wound.

Deciding he was in need of a wash he headed for the bathroom. It was just one of those days… he'd get over it; a couple of beers later and he could be in a contented stupor for the rest of the night. Which didn't sound like a bad way to spend an evening, it was better than moping anyway. Not that Lady would approve when she returned, but she didn't tend to approve of anything he did.

He glanced to the mirror to asses the damage to his new vest – that was the third one this week – when he stopped dead in his tracks. Vergil was staring back at him through the mirror.

Dante's electric blue eyes widened in shock before he realised that his mind was playing tricks on him. A stab of resentment went through him as he saw that Vergil was copying his exact movements… and he was wearing red. Growling in anger he resisted the urge to smash glass into a thousand pieces and turned away flattening his hair back over his face.


	2. Aviophobia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SpardaxEva fluff. Like a demon could ever trust a human contraption.

 

**-Phobias-**

-Lady Luce-

* * *

Aviophobia: Fear of Flying

* * *

"Oh for pity's sake would you sit still? You're behaving worse than the children!" Eva scolded her husband who was fidgeting in his seat.

Sparda glanced across the aisle to where his sons were sitting both vying for the seat nearest the window. It had been agreed that Vergil would sit in the window seat for take-off and they would swap half-way through the journey, but after the elder twin had made some remark about the take-off being far more exciting the arguing had begun again. As soon as they were inside the plane the boys had set off on a mad dash to their seats, leaving Sparda and Eva to apologise for the havoc which had been caused in the process. Vergil had beaten his twin by a fraction of a second and sat down with an incredibly smug smile on his face leaving Dante fuming. Now the younger twin was putting up a valiant struggle to remove the elder from his seat – and failing miserably. Vergil was finding the situation increasingly amusing – which only served to add to his brother's ire – as he deliberately blocked as much of the small window as possible from Dante's view.

Sparda didn't honestly know how it was possible that he was behaving worse than them, but then again for the twins this wasn't bad behaviour. Neither of them had tried to tear the other limb from limb – yet; Dante was looking pretty close to breaking point.

The Dark-Knight huffed indignantly and turned his attention back to his wife. "Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

Eva pursed her lips. "Maybe, but they're children, they're allowed to behave like that. You're the two thousand year old demon."

Sparda was about to reply when a yelp from across the aisle confirmed that Dante had finally lost it and bitten his twin's arm – which had previously been blocking the window from the younger's view. It wasn't particularly good sportsmanship to bite one's opponent, but then again he had little else to use as a weapon, and Dante's fighting style had always been a little unorthodox. At least he didn't play dirty when they were sparring… he just didn't play by the rules either. It was something Sparda had learnt about his sons a long time ago. Dante tended to rush in all guns blazing – figuratively; Eva had decided that swords were enough for now – and think on his feet. It often meant that he was reduced to rash moves in order to evade oncoming attack and also meant that at times he required more speed than he could muster. And a fraction of a second was all Vergil needed. The twins truly were polar opposites and it showed clearly when they were fighting. Vergil had learnt everything by the book, sticking to every form of moral conduct which his brother severely lacked. Both children were eager to learn new things, though Dante would become bored quickly and move on to something else whereas Vergil would hone ever skill to a deadly precision.

"Dante don't bite your brother," Eva chided before turning back to her husband. The engines of the Boeing 747 were humming softly now and her husband's face had paled visibly. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Is there something the matter?"

"Oh, no, everything's fine," Sparda reassured her, his voice reaching a squeaky falsetto on the last word.

A small smile broke across Eva's face at the sound; it reminded her of an adolescent boy's voice breaking. She wondered if her husband had ever experienced the humiliation of puberty, she knew nearly everything about him, but she had failed to ask him that particular question and made a note to question him about it later.

She watched him closely as the plane taxied to the run-way seeing his jaw clench. Sparda was still an enigma to her and though she had goaded so much about his life out of him she knew there was still so much she didn't know; what little she did know about him was merely the tip of the ice-burg. Eva tended not to bother herself with it, satisfied to know that she was the only person in the world who truly knew the real Sparda. Though there were times when she felt she had the right to know the things he kept hidden from her; his child-hood in particular was a subject constantly glossed over (to be honest she wasn't even sure he had had one, either that or he'd forgotten it). Eva contemplated that she knew so little about him very rarely, when she watched him and he didn't think she was looking there was something in his eyes that was alien to her. When he starred out of the window for a fraction of a second too long or looked into a glass of water as though he could see something in the transparent surface… She could not quite name the emotion she saw in his eyes and it troubled her occasionally. For now though they were going on what would be a nice happy family holiday and she wasn't going to let something like that ruin it.

"I just don't see why I couldn't have-" He was still arguing his point, but Eva cut across him quickly knowing what he was about to say.

"Because the last time I tried letting you fly me anywhere I almost ended up as a human pancake," Eva interjected and Sparda winced; she had never quite forgiven him for that. "And besides you couldn't have carried all three of us, not with those two going at it every two seconds."

Sparda mumbled something about tranquilizing them and Eva pretended not to notice though the idea had crossed her mind once before. She had of course been under immense stress at the time and could not be blamed for such thoughts. Twins alone would have been bad enough, but half demon twins? One could not be blamed for their actions with only three hours sleep and two screaming children constantly under their feet. It was enough to drive anyone mad and Eva was proud of herself for living through it when most would have been driven to homicide.

"I just don't like these… machines," Sparda huffed once again adjusting his seat belt. "How can they possibly be safe?"

Eva sighed dejectedly. Sparda seemed to have some grudge against technology; his mind had been left somewhere back in the eighteenth century and she had never quite been able to sway him.

"Humans are very careful creatures; you should know that by now-" if her reaction to Dante and Vergil's constant attempts at turning each other into sushi were anything to go by "- they aren't stupid either. This plane has been tested for any danger, and we wouldn't be allowed on if it weren't safe." Eva had a feeling her reasoning fell on deaf ears, but she persisted none the less. "And even if something bad did happen, we have you around don't we? Our own personal super-hero."

Sparda smiled slightly around his clenched teeth. "I'm not superman you know."

Eva's own smile broadened and she placed her hand over his on the armrest, giving it a tight squeeze as the engines rumbled to life roaring as the plane sped up, racing down the run-way. The Dark-Knight's eyes squeezed tight shut briefly and he took a quick breath before opening them again.

"I know," she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, temporarily taking his mind off the plane as it tilted back, wheels skidding on the run-way before lifting off the ground. A resounding 'eew' from across the aisle only served to heighten Eva's amusement. "And I wouldn't want it any other way."

And that was the truth of the matter. Sparda wasn't superhuman; and his endearing little fear of flying only made her love him all the more.


	3. Hoplophobia

 

**-Phobias-**

-Lady Luce-

* * *

Hoplophobia: Fear of Guns

* * *

The door heaved open a crack with a grinding sigh and Vergil felt his heart beat race a little faster as pale yellow light spilled into the dark room beyond. He didn't know how many times they'd been told that this room was of limits. Though the fact that entering the room was strictly forbidden only made Vergil even more curious to know what was inside. Not that the contents of his father's study were any great secret, but he never got long enough to study the various ornaments and artefacts in this room.

Dante was bouncing on the balls of his feet behind his twin anxiously trying to peer over his head into the room beyond. Both of them could feel it, an electric buzz in their blood and something intangible niggling at the backs of their minds though the message was clear; something inside the room was calling them.

Finally the door slid open far enough for the pair to slip inside. Vergil quickly snatched the keys – which he had filched from their mother's room earlier that day – from the lock and leant against the heavy wooden door closing it until the room lay in darkness again.

This was possibly one of the grandest rooms in their house. Dominated by an enormous fireplace its gaping maw was a pitch black vacuum seeming to suck all the light from the cavernous room. Flanked by two winged leather chairs and a pair of engraved obsidian pillars a coal scuttle sat to one side the once golden material now soot covered black. Two tall picture windows were covered with thick velvet curtains allowing only a small chink of light to pierce the inky blackness. Floor to ceiling book cases lined the walls and a desk sat brooding in a dark corner a high backed chair waiting silently in front of the polished mahogany. The smell of dust hung thickly in the air mingled with the scent of old books and sulphur from the long burnt out fire.

The twins took all this in with the blink of an eye their gazes quickly lighting on the flicker of a silver flame in the darkness. Glass cases were dotted about the room containing weapons and trophies or in a few cases old and valuable books which were seconds from turning into dust. It was a pair in the centre of the room which caught the boys' attention now as they hurried forward feeling a sudden surge in their blood.

Dante pressed his nose against the case to the right holding a long-sword which towered over him as he gazed up at the dark hilt. The tapered blade stemmed from a well defined rib cage and spine with the hilt and cross guard punching out of the grisly skull at the top. It was meant for his hands. Dante knew every time he laid eyes on it that one day it would be his. It took all his effort not to smash the glass open just to touch it. Every time he walked past this room he could hear it calling to him from inside and each time the burning need to see the sword seemed to intensify.

Vergil's reaction to the eastern sword in the left hand case was similar as he stared at it in awe. It was the perfect combination of power and elegance. A single flick from that well crafted blade could be both beautiful and deadly when in adept hands. The elder twin knew that one day those hands would be his. The sword had been made for him; how that was possible was not important, but something stronger than fate had chosen the blade for him and only him. It was beautifully crafted and sat now with a silent patience waiting its master. Vergil pressed his fingers against the thick glass as though he could push his hand through it through mere strength of will. Eva had hidden the keys to these cases in some impossible place that he would never think of. Whilst he knew that in the end it was for their safety Vergil had a hard time reminding himself of that.

A crash from across the room eventually brought the elder twin from his trance. His head snapped towards the direction the noise had come from, having great difficulty tearing his eyes from the sword, to see that Dante had moved away from Rebellion's display case. Of course his twin would have failed to obey the instructions of _Do Not Touch_ which Vergil had given him earlier. Dante had a habit of managing to break anything within his vicinity, even things which appeared to be at a safe distance would fall victim to a rogue football or the younger twin would just not be looking where he was going and walk straight into some priceless vase. Dante's latest victim was now shattered across the floor at his feet and both twin's froze momentarily waiting for Eva to hear and come racing up the stairs.

When she didn't Vergil stalked across the room – Yamato forgotten for a brief moment – and stopped at his twin's side when his foot crunched on a piece of broken glass which had once been a display case.

"What on earth did you do?" Vergil hissed keeping his voice low as he took in the destruction which his brother had caused.

"I was just-"

"Didn't I tell you not to touch anything?" Vergil cut across his twin not in the mood for some sorry explanation for the carnage. He stooped down and brushed away some of the glass lifting up the shotgun which had previously been resting in the display case. He studied it carefully knowing that it had been customized from the weight in his hands. It was deceptively light and would be devastating at close range though he doubted the accuracy of the weapon at a distance. It was made for taking down creatures much larger than humans. He ran a finger over something engraved on the side unable to read it in the dim light.

"Well you're touching stuff now," Dante commented watching closely as Vergil inspected the gun with minor curiosity.

"Yes, but I don't break everything I set eyes on," Vergil snapped back removing some of the oil paper clogging the moving parts of the gun in order to get a better look at what was written on the barrel.

Dante hmphed and folded his arms before making his way to a book shelf glass crunching into the wooden floor-boards as he did so. Normally Vergil would have reprimanded him or ordered him to pick up the mess, but he was too busy examining the piece of craftsmanship in his hands to pay attention. He turned the gun over and over in his palms marvelling at the smooth wooden handle and tracing his fingers over the writing on the barrel. He couldn't read it and for some reason now he needed to know what it said; he wanted to know who had made the weapon.

"Hey Ver-"

The sudden deafening cry as the gun went off made Dante snap round to find the source of the noise (though if he'd considered it longer maybe he didn't actually want to know). Vergil took the bullets at point blank range and was thrown backwards with a howl of pain as they tore through his abdomen, tearing muscle and flesh, shattering bone with a sickening crack.

"-gil…" It took a frozen moment as Vergil was thrown through the air before Dante's mind registered what had happened. "Shit!"

Vergil hit the ground with a loud thump, the gun clattering to the floor next to him. The elder twin didn't move, blood quickly blooming around the wound and soaking through his shirt.

Dante stared a second longer then raced to the door tearing it open frantically and stumbling into the hall. "MOM!"

Eva had already been alerted by the gun-shot and turned the corner into the corridor as Dante's cry reached her ears. It didn't take her long to put together the worst possible situation and she tore past Dante into the room taking stock of what had happened in seconds. Fear raced through her as she ran to Vergil's side trying to asses the damage done. It was hard, she knew Dante and Vergil shared some of their father's abilities, but to what extent she never knew. It hadn't seemed like a good idea to test them, though from previous experience she had deduced that they did have the ability to heal far faster than humans. The question was by how much?

Vergil wasn't moving, but she could tell he was alive at least, she doubted any normal human could say the same. Blood was spilling down his chin; the force of the bullets must have driven his ribs up into his lungs. She quickly pulled off her sweater and pressed it against his abdomen hoping to stem the bleeding as she reassessed the situation. Dante moved to stand behind her peering over her shoulder and looking worried though he said nothing.

It took a minute for Vergil's eyes to flicker open again and he coughed wetly before taking a heaving breath. Saying that it hurt like hell was possibly an understatement, but at least he wasn't dead. He could already feel the skin and organs slowly knitting back together, the bones snapping back into place.

"Vergil can you hear me?" Eva asked softly using her sleeve to wipe away some of the blood on his chin.

He groaned and raised a bloodied hand to his swimming vision trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Whilst his body seemed to be coping with the wound far better his mind was now playing catch up, the burning pain of taking two bullets to the gut was making it hard though.

"Just stay still for a second sweetie it'll stop hurting soon," Eva cooed brushing errant strands of hair from Vergil's pained face. The bleeding had already stopped and she knew that the wounds were already sealed over, but that did nothing to abate her concern.

"I'm fine…" Vergil attempted, but another hacking cough sprayed blood over his chin and he decided it was best not to protest. Apart from anything he didn't really want to. He was not fine, it hurt and trying to act grown up didn't seem all that appealing at the moment. The only thing which stopped him from complaining about the pain was Dante's wide-eyed gaze lingering on him as he watched over Eva's shoulder.

Eva smiled recalling how many times she'd heard her husband say that. Sure Sparda could take a bullet to the brain and still be fine, but there had been times when he would never admit that something had in fact hurt – just like Vergil was doing now. She saw a lot of Sparda in her sons sometimes; it was almost painful to watch them.

"You're not, just stay still," Eva said softly removing the sweater she'd been using to staunch the wound. Though it was hard to tell through the blood she was certain that Vergil had healed and that it would be of no more use. She was just about to see if Vergil could sit up when the younger twin now sitting to her right caught her attention.

"Dante let go of that," she snapped snatching the shotgun from his hand and flicking out the shells with a deftness only one with years of training could possess. She stood, hurriedly placed the gun on a high shelf before turning back to her sons suddenly remembering that she should be cross with them.

Dante was the first to notice his mother's change in demeanour and jabbed a finger at his twin. "It was his idea!"

"Dante," Vergil hissed though he didn't have the strength to say much else.

"I don't care whose idea this was I have told you not to come in this room and now look what's happened!" Eva scolded hands on hips all fear for her sons' safety forgotten. "As soon as Vergil's feeling better I'll think of a suitable punishment."

* * *

 

Dante grinned folding his arms across his chest as he recounted the tale to a slightly surprised Lady. She couldn't help smiling at Vergil's failing attempt to stay out of the conversation. He was trying desperately to pay attention to his book, but she could see a vein on his forehead twitching as Dante continued on with enthusiasm. Vergil had asked for it though, he had once again been griping about how guns were brutish dishonourable weapons and Dante had decided to put a stop to it.

  
"So you see that's why he doesn't like guns," Dante finished eyes fixed on Vergil waiting for his reaction. "It's not because he thinks they're _'not proper weapons'_ or however he puts it, it's because he's afraid of them!"

Vergil's book finally dropped to his lap and he rounded on his younger twin. "I am _not_ afraid of them."

"Yeah says you," Dante replied smirking at Vergil's irate expression. He had learned in the past month or so that it was still incredibly easy to wind his brother up and it was far too much fun watching him when he was in a bad mood.

"I am not-"

"Well it would explain a lot," Lady joined in thoughtfully twirling one of her own pistols around her finger. "It's fine to be afraid of something everyone is."

Vergil blinked, how could she be listening to his brother and taking him seriously? Didn't she know that Dante couldn't say anything sensible for longer than two seconds before it was turned into a joke? "I'm not afraid of those _things_."

"It's alright bro, like she said it's okay to be afraid," Dante continued standing up and crossing the room to where his brother was still sitting on the couch. He spread his arms out with mock enthusiasm. "Do you need a hug?"

Vergil threw his twin a death glare as he rose to his feet and brushed past completely ignoring Dante's out-spread arms; not that Dante had really expected him to accept the offer.

"I guess that's a no then," he observed as Vergil moved over to the table where Lady was still sitting. As much as Vergil would have liked to storm off and find somewhere quiet that would be backing down and admitting defeat, neither of which he would do willingly.

"Well then seeing as Vergil's still in denial I'm gonna go have a shower," he watched his brother's face curiously now noting that his twin seemed calmer than ever. That was something he had learned to be afraid of; his brother was watching him with the detached serenity of a psychopath.

Heading for the door he threw one last remark over his shoulder unable to stop annoying his twin despite the fact he was now on very dangerous ground. "Vergil just doesn't like things he can't control, do you Verg? Me being one of them."

Lady didn't have the time to speak as Vergil plucked her gun from her grasp aiming it at the back of his brother's head. A second later there was a resounding bang and Dante dropped to the ground like a sack of grain.

"Maybe I should revise my opinion of these a little," Vergil said handing the gun back to the still stunned Lady and smirking at his brother's pained grunt. "It appears that they do in fact have their uses."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU as Vergil is back in the human world with no explanation. Easter-egg type thing would be that the name on the gun is the .45 caliber artist because Nell rocks.

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1: One-Shots  
> Part 2: Tocophobia


End file.
